The unification of quantum mechanics and Einstein's general relativity is one of the most exciting and still open questions in modern physics. General relativity, the joint theory of gravity, space and time gives predictions that become clearly evident on a cosmic scale of stars and galaxies. Quantum effects, on the other hand, are fragile and are typically observed on small scales, e.g. when considering single particles and atoms. That is why it is very hard to test the interplay between quantum mechanics and general relativity. Now theoretical physicists led by Prof. Časlav Brukner at the University of Vienna propose a novel experiment which can probe the overlap of the two theories. The focus of the work is to measure the general relativistic notion of time on a quantum scale. The findings will be published this week in Nature Communications.

Time in general relativity

One of the counterintuitive predictions of Einstein's general relativity is that gravity distorts the flow of time. The theory predicts that clocks tick slower near a massive body and tick faster the further they are away from the mass. This effect results in a so-called "twin paradox": if one twin moves out to live at a higher altitude, he will age faster than the other twin who remains on the ground. This effect has been precisely verified in classical experiments, but not in conjunction with quantum effects, which is the aim of the newly proposed experiment.

Caption: According to general relativity, time flows differently at different positions due to the distortion of space-time by a nearby massive object. A single clock being in a superposition of two locations allows probing quantum interference effects in combination with general relativity.

I work for a florescent dark sucker company. See, our lamps glow brightly because they soak up all the surrounding dark. A battery is a form of a dark sucker too. It’s sucks in dark until it’s full of dark and then you have to recharge it by pumping out all the dark. I know it’s confusing but physics is not for the timid. You should always seek to go boldly where no man has gone before...hmmm That sounds familiar.

Beam me up Scotty!

12
posted on 10/19/2011 11:22:37 PM PDT
by lwoodham
(There are 10 kinds of people, those who understand binary and those who don't.)

and JUST finished watching Kirk and Scott :)
You guys looking into LED laps? My brother in law is attempting to start an import export business of LED for office spaces in Taiwan. He was asking me about contacts a while ago in the US.

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.